Samantha Failsworth
Samantha Failsworth grew up in Hale in Cheshire, she was the daughter of a dentist, and read Electronics at University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). However, she fell for Ritchie Fitzgerald, a barman who worked near where she lived, and unbeknown to her parents, dropped out of university and married him. It took her all of two days to realise this was a major mistake, and she only married him as an excuse to drop out. Biography Samantha fled, and breezed into The Rovers as a motorbike-riding, leather-clad modern woman. After landing the job of barmaid at the Rovers in January 1997, she moved into No. 7 - though not quite as she'd planned, as she ended up sharing with Curly Watts. In March 1997, after taking part in a charity parachute jump with Des Barnes, she managed to break up Des' relationship with Claire Palmer by throwing his trousers out of No. 7's bedroom window after he tried it on with her. By August 1997, she had curiously taken up with Des, and after rescuing Leanne Battersby from an attempted rape, opened up to Des and admitted that when she was 17 she was raped by her tennis coach Ian Phillips - resulting in her sexual problems. Consequently, she faced up to her past and reconciled with her parents. Samantha's husband Ritchie tracked her down in September 1997, and she introduced him to Des and Curly. She told him that she should never have married him, but he told her that he loved her. Samantha confided in Ritchie about the rape and allowed him to stay overnight on the sofa at No. 7. Ritchie told Des that he and Samantha were getting back together, but when he fell into a drunken sleep, she told Des that her marriage was definitely over. Over the course of the next few months, both Samantha and Des tried to sort out the divorce with Ritchie. Des proposed to Samantha in January 1998, which she initially agreed to. Des was more persistant in the divorce matter, giving her doubts about the whole thing. Samantha confided in Natalie Horrocks, fearing that marriage would trap her and force her to run again. She packed her bags and told Des that she would make his life a misery, but Des managed to talk her out of leaving. Samantha went to London to speak to Ritchie behind Des' back, and told him she'd changed her mind about wanting a divorce, however Ritchie decided to keep her dangling on a string and wouldn't give a decision either way. Soon afterwards, Des went to confront Ritchie again, and Samantha, worried that he would tell Des about her going to see him, left an answerphone message for Ritchie begging him not to tell Des that they'd spent the night together. Des refused to leave Ritchie's flat until he'd signed the divorce papers, but Ritchie told Des that Samantha didn't want a divorce afterall. After hearing the answerphone message that Samantha had recorded, Des returned to Weatherfield and called her a slut. After a few more months of stringing both men along, she cheated on Des again - this time with garage mechanic Chris Collins. Samantha was jealous that Des was forging a close friendship with Natalie. After trying to sabotage their friendship, Samantha told Des and Natalie that she was pregnant. Again, Samantha played with everyone's emotions - she'd apparently gone and had an abortion, then it came to light there was no baby, and then she'd suffered a miscarriage - so nobody knew what to believe about the pregnancy. In June 1998, Samantha rode out of Coronation Street on her motorbike after telling Des that she really was still pregnant with his child, and although Natalie told him that Samantha was lying, Des felt that he would never find out the truth. First and last lines "Are you the landlord?" (First line, to Jack Duckworth) --- "I'll see you, Jim. Take care of yourself, and say goodbye to Curly for me, will you?" (Final line) See also *Full list of appearances Category:Coronation Street characters Category:Residents of 7 Coronation Street Category:1976 births Category:Rovers barmaids Category:1996 marriages Category:1998 departures Category:1996 debuts Category:Residents of 6 Coronation Street